Govinda meets Sonia, move to join Congress (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: Bollywood star Govinda met Congress party president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi this evening amid reports that he may be joining the party. All India Congress Committee general secretary Kamal Nath accompanied Govinda at the meeting. Later, talking to reporters, the star said he was yet to take a decision on whether to pitch his tent in the Congress camp full time. According to preliminary unconfirmed reports, he may be pitched against caretaker Union Petroleum Minister Ram Naik in Mumbai's North constituency.

Telgi scam: States told to submit records (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday instructed 12 states to deposit records of 48 cases connected with Abdul Karim Telgi, the main accused in the stamp paper scam, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice VN Khare, .Justice SB Sinha and Justice SH Kapadia issued the order. Of the 48 cases, 23 have been registered in Maharashtra and 10 in Karnataka. The remaining cases include three each in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, two each in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh and one each from Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Kerala and West Bengal.

         The apex court bench also ruled that orders issued by the Government of Karnataka prohibiting the movement of Telgi out of the state under Section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Court would not come in the CBI's way if it wanted to take over his custody for further investigations. The 12 states were also instructed to provide the CBI with the required facilities and resources to carry out its investigation in the above cases without obstruction. The court's order came after it heard five public interest petitions, including one filed by Advocate Ajay Agarwal, seeking a unified CBI probe into the Rs.32000 cr fake stamp case. Senior counsel Ashok Desai and counsel Mukesh Giri, appearing for the Government of Maharashtra, told the court that the state government had already handed over all records and documents pertaining to the cases to the CBI. The court has asked the CBI to file its status report within four months. March 15, 2004

BJP will stick with NDA even if routed: Advani (Go To Top)

         Hubli (Karnataka): Majority or no majority, the BJP will stick with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), said Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on the sixth day of his Bharat Uday Yatra. Talking to reporters here, Advani said that there was no question of the BJP moving away from the NDA's common minimum programme, which had been instrumental in keeping the present coalition in power since 1998. He also said that it would be the BJP's endeavour to search for an "enduring solution" to the Ayodhya issue, adding that as soon as the new government was in place, some sort of agreement could be reached between the parties to the dispute. "It will be a negotiated settlement which will come about and that has a great advantage over both - court verdict as well as resolution by Parliament," he said.

BJP finalizes second candidates' list (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The BJP on Monday finalized its second list of 46 more candidates for Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Jharkhand for the next month's polls. An understanding was also reached between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress on the sharing of 40 out of the 42 seats in West Bengal. The meeting was held at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's residence and lasted for about two hours. The BJP, which had declared the names of 142 candidates, including that of Vajpayee (Lucknow) Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani from Gujarat and Kalyan Singh (Bulundshahr) on Sunday, finalized 18 more candidates from Gujarat. A decision on the remaining three seats in the state is likely soon.

          In Madhya Pradesh, the party finalized the names of 20 more candidates, taking the total number of seats decided in the state to 23. Among the six seats where the party is yet to finalize its candidates include Guna, Bhopal and Rajgarh. The party finalised eight more candidates in Jharkhand, leaving only three out of the total 14 seats in the state to be decided. In West Bengal, BJP will contest 12 seats and the Trinamool Congress the remaining 28, while decision on Bankura and Purulia has been kept pending. BJP has staked a claim on the two seats as it was the runners-up on Purulia and its supported independent candidate came behind CPI(M)'s Acharia Basudeb in Bankura. Sources said the party would finalize candidates for the northeastern states, West Bengal and seat sharing with allies in Bihar later tonight.

Kashmir minibus mishap: 10 killed (Go To Top)

         Jammu: Ten persons were feared dead after a mini bus plunged nearly 30 meters into a gorge on Monday. Police also confirmed that 25 people were injured in the accident that took place near Ramban, a town close to the Jammu-Srinagar highway. More details are awaited.

Spain blast probe: India offers support (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: India on Monday expressed its full support to Spain in its investigations into last week's bombing of four packed trains in Madrid, the worst guerrilla attack in the West since September 11, 2001 aerial raids in the United States. Spain said it had arrested five people, including two Indians on Saturday, in connection with the blasts, which killed 200 people and injured another 1,500. The investigators believe that mobile phones were used to detonate the 10 bombs hidden in backpacks on four trains. "The two Indians who have been detained are being questioned for their alleged involvement in the sale of mobile phone cards. Our embassy is in touch with the Spanish authorities and we have asked for more details," the External Affairs Ministry spokesman, Navtej Sarna, told reporters here.

Libyan tried to assassinate me: Musharraf (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Monday said a Libyan Al-Qaeda militant was behind two attempts on his life last year and issued an ultimatum to foreign extremists hiding in Pakistan's northwestern tribal zone. Musharraf, who narrowly survived two assassination bids on December 14 and 25 last year, vowed the attacker would be captured and demanded the surrender of up to 600 foreigners holed up on Pakistani soil. "One Libyan was involved in the attacks on me," Musharraf told tribal leaders from Pakistan's border regions during a visit to Peshawar.

          Musharraf repeated Pakistan's insistence that no US troops would be granted permission to conduct the hunt against Taliban suspects. on Pakistani soil. "We will not allow any American soldiers to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan. The operation against terrorists is being launched by our own forces with the help of local people," he said.

Ashish Nehra ruled out of second ODI, Ganguly also doubtful (Go To Top)

         Rawalpindi: Left-arm bowler Ashish Nehra has been ruled out of the second one-day cricket international to be played between Pakistan and India here tomorrow due to an injury. "He has a swollen ankle and would not play in the match tomorrow," Indian vice-captain Rahul Dravid told reporters here. Dravid also said that Captain Sourav Ganguly was also a doubtful starter as he was running a "mild fever" and a decision on his availability for the day-night tie would be taken only tomorrow. "Sourav did not train today. We will assess the situation tomorrow before taking a final decision," Dravid said.

SC asks Ten Sports to provide live telecast signals to DD (Go To Top)

         New Delhi: The Supreme Court today directed the Taj Entertainment Network (TEN) Sports channel to provide live telecast signals of the remaining one-day matches between India and Pakistan to the state broadcaster Doordarshan. Keeping the Ten Sports' appeal for a final hearing on March 17, the court directed Doordarshan and Prasar Bharti to deposit Rs.10 cr with the Registrar General of the Supreme Court, pending adjudication of the dispute. The court directed DD to carry the signals of Ten Sports along with the advertisements given by the foreign sports channel during the live telecast of the matches.

          The Taj Private (India) Ltd said that it does not own the rights over the telecast signals generated from Pakistan. It said giving simultaneous telecast feed to DD was a breach of its contract with the original telecast rights holder, Taj TV Private Ltd, Dubai and hence, expressed apprehensions that the signals of live telecast may not be shown in India at all. The Indian distributor wanted the court to record its submission so that in case the live telecast signals do not reach it on Tuesday for the One-day international match at Rawalpindi, then it should not be held guilty of contempt of court charges. "We do not want to pre-judge the issue. We will see if you are in contempt or not on Wednesday," said the bench headed by Chief Justice V.N. Khare.

Vajpayee's proposed visit a hush hush affair: PCB chief (Go To Top)

          Islamabad: If Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee or his deputy LK Advani come for either of the one-day cricket matches between Pakistan and India or the Test match to be played in Lahore later this month, it will be a hush hush affair, said Shaharyar Khan, the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). "So far we have not been told anything about the Indian PM, his deputy or any other senior Indian minister visiting Lahore for the matches," Shaharyar was quoted by the News, as saying. However, he added that if these visits were to materialize, it would be done secretly and worked out behind closed doors. Expressing satisfaction with the smooth manner in which the first one-day international had been held in Karachi, he said: "It was a befitting start to such a historic series. We could not have sked for more. But yes there were some ends which we need to sort out before the remaining matches."

Indian team's meals are checked (Go To Top)

         Rawalpindi: Meals being provided to the Indian team at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad and at other venues are being checked by the provincial health departments before being cleared for consumption. Sohail Khan, a senior superintendent of police attached with the federal interior ministry, told the News that although there was no specific food taster, the health department and intelligence officers were responsible for ensuring that no contaminated or bad food was served to the Indians. "What we have done is that at the hotel and at the grounds the health department officials and our security officers check all the ingredients being used for the preparation of food for the Indians before clearing them," Khan said. He also stated that under a policy decision for the time being any sightseeing or outings for the Indian players and officials was out of bounds. He said even though there was very little chance of a real threat to the Indians, no chances were being taken at all with their security. He also praised the Indian security officers for their cooperation with the Pakistani security officials.

Hockey team returns after poor Madrid show (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: India's hockey team returned home this morning after a rather poor show in the Madrid qualifiers. Though qualifying for the Athens Olympics to be held later this year, one time Olympic champions India stood fourth in the 12- nation Olympic qualifier tournament, which was won by hosts Spain. India was expected to sail through the preliminary league where they were pitted against minnows like Canada, Belgium and Malaysia, with some probable opposition from Pakistan and New Zealand.

          The seven teams that have earned their place in Athens are Spain, Netherlands, India, Pakistan, Britain, New Zealand and South Africa. They join Australia, Germany, Argentina, Korea and Egypt who have already qualified as top teams from their continents.

Bottomlines

Diana dated Terence Stamp! (Go To Top)

         London: Princess Diana apparently dated movie veteran Terence Stamp, according to revelations in a new book. The Princess shared an intimate relationship with the British actor, whose films include Superman 2 and Far From the Madding Crowd, says royal author Andrew Morton, according to the Sun. Stamp, now 64, is said to have romanced the Princess after they met at the London premiere of the film Wall Street in 1987. In Morton's book titled 'Diana in Search of Love', Stamp is one of three lovers to be named for the first time.

The Passion of the Christ tops box office (Go To Top)

         Washington: Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ is one newsmaker for sure. According to E-Online, the film has topped the box office for the third straight weekend and grossed 264 million dollars. R rated for its violence, the film dominated in 3,211 theatres, where it averaged 9,830 dollars per site as the choice of 30.4 percent of the ticket buying audience. Newmarket, the company distributing the film, has predicted that it will ultimately gross between 350 and 400 million dollars in North America, pushing it into the league of the PG-13 Oscar- winning fantasy The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

          The second slot is occupied by Secret Window, starring Oscar- nominated actor, Johnny Depp, which raked up a solid 19 million dollars. The Film's release was pushed up a month to capitalize on Depp's Oscar hype. The film was flung into 3,018 theatres and averaged 6,296 dollars per site. The '70s cop spoof Starksy & Hutch fell off 43 percent from its second-place debut, earning $16 million in third place. It averaged 5,027 dollars at 3,185 sites. In fourth place, Hidalgo cantered on, down just 38 percent from its third-place debut, expanding into two more sites to 3,065 theaters.

          Trailing behind was MGM's PG-rated Cody Banks sequel, which averaged just 2,691 dollars at 2,973 sites. There was better news for the sixth-place film, 50 First Dates, which earned 5.3 million dollars. Meanwhile, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, could only manage a fifth-place debut of 8 million dollars, barely more than half the money earned by the original cute 'tween caper last year. In more limited release, Spartan, a terse David Mamet tale starring Val Kilmer as a special ops agent detailed to save the President's kidnapped daughter, checked in at number 10 with a sparse 2 million dollars.

UP village that still travels on horses and mules (Go To Top)

          Dhabi Dera (Uttar Pradesh): Residents of the Dhabi Dera in Uttar Pradesh's Balia District still use horses and donkeys to travel from one destination to the next, even as the government pats itself for undertaking an ambitious national highways project. "Even if we have to travel up to 30 km, the only mode of transportation is these horses. Whether we have to bring food for ourselves or fodder for our animals, we use these horses and donkeys," said Manoj Tiwari, a villager. The residents complain that the politicians fly in on choppers to promise them the sky during elections and leave them in the dumps as soon as the votes are cast. This village even lacks basic amenities like hospitals, electricity etc. Clearly the people of Dhabi Dera have nothing to feel good about. And with the general elections round the corner, they will be asking some tough questions of their leaders.